Overachiever award
- Thread starter Sparty Jones
- Start date
Rochester......
Wes Lunt - starting QB at Illinois
Sean Robinson - was starting at LB for Purdue, torn ACL I believe (played QB in HS)
Zach Grant - Could see time at WR for Illinois this Fall
That's just in the last few years....for a 4A school....
Trying not to be too much of a homer on this....but Geneseo's program/system without question just churns out good solid football teams consistently year-after-year with average athletic talent, size, speed and skills for the most part. They've been doing this for like 53 consecutive years and counting. I think they have it figured out. And there have been very few stud/great football players or atheltic superstars in their history. And it's my educated guess over that history that 95% of their players never played another football game after graduating HS.
I would have a hard time believing 95% of their players don't go on and play football at some level. I would think a program like Geneseo has to have a handful of players each year who go on and play Division 3 football, no? That being said, I agree that there may not be a program in Illinois who consistently gets more out of its players than Geneseo.
Last year, Cary-Grove had some very talented linemen, including one who went to ND. RB/LB Pennington is a very talented player too. But, C-G is a program that seems to get the most out of a group of kids who are not the most physically gifted. Generally, programs that have a set system, like C-G, are the ones that seem to get the most out of their players. They get kids to buy into the system, which yields a result that is greater than the sum of the parts (synergy = great program).
I always thought Brett Pearleman did that in his days at Prospect, as well.
I always thought Brett Pearleman did that in his days at Prospect, as well.
Cary-Grove has to be up there. Never an overly impressive team to look at, but all they do is win. Great system, must have great buy-in during offseason weight training.
I stand slightly corrected.....perhaps 2 to 3 players go Division 3 in some years. But not many of their players go to a level higher....it's not a common or frequent occurrence. And there are some that could have, but choose not to for whatever reasons.
I can only think of one during that time that was a D-1 scholarship player and that was Trevor Ruhland. Some others have walked on at D-I schools but have seen limited playing time. Several D-II and a lot of D-III players.
Glenbard West. There it is, I said it. Each year they put a top 5 defense in the state on the field yet have only had 2-3 D-1 guys on that side of the ball in the last 4-5 years. For every Tommy Schutt, there is a dozen under sized over achieving animal that play their final game on Duchon. O-Line has had 4-5 guys in last 7-8 years play college and they have all been studs but once again, the norm is that 2-3 of the o-line are 175 lb fighters.
Hetlett may get more out of his guys than any coach in the state.
Hetlett may get more out of his guys than any coach in the state.
Maybe my count is off by a couple. I can think of two DBs, and two DL that have signed with D-1 schools. I get a little hazy beyond four years back as I only got to IL five years ago.
Wasn't last year that Da Brook had four D-1 guys on defense alone counting Tuf?
I guess I am impressed with defensive scheme West runs and how each year guys that never really impressed before somehow step up and become an amazing unit. Are they faster than PW guys, no, are there as many as LT guys, no, are they as athletic as OPRF guys, never. Yet somehow they have run the table four straight years, and seven straight conf wins or ties.
Go back and look at Edgy's list for each year and point out one year where we had more than 2. Most years limited to one.
I prolly should have said 1-2 as I can't put a line together any that had 3. My apologies. The scheme they run rotates OL on a regular basis and two of the spots require lean fast guys to hit an edge. As long as they are nasty, size is nice but not necessary.
Ultimately Edgy is the ref here on whether I am off base. My frame of reference is only five seasons.
Then again, maybe I am misunderstanding the definition of "talent" which is likely. I do believe that the non-D-1 guys they reload with are incredibly talented. They just tend to fly below the recruiting radar.
Most schools haven't been to at least the State Semis (in 6A or above) 5 out of the last 7 years.
The next question is of the schools that have been to 5 or more semis over that span, did any of them have fewer guys on Edgy's List? Don't have the time to research, but my point is that guy for guy, pound for pound, Hetlett gets as much out of his guys as anyone.
If I have off my homer hat, the team I have seen that I could say the same about is LZ. Those guys seem to win more games on guts that any I have seen. Never faster or bigger or stronger, just willing to fight harder.
The next question is of the schools that have been to 5 or more semis over that span, did any of them have fewer guys on Edgy's List? Don't have the time to research, but my point is that guy for guy, pound for pound, Hetlett gets as much out of his guys as anyone.
If I have off my homer hat, the team I have seen that I could say the same about is LZ. Those guys seem to win more games on guts that any I have seen. Never faster or bigger or stronger, just willing to fight harder.
I tend to agree that it would be hard to put GW in the overachiever category. The bottom line is they have a lot of talented players, just not a lot that have DI size or speed. If you look at WWS going back to the 2006 season, they have had 3 defensive players go on to DI schools on scholarship (Will Davis to ISU, Dan Chism to EIU and Tommy Vitale to Northwestern). So 3 D1 players in the last 9 years with only 1 going to an FBS school isn't as many as GBW has had in the past 5 seasons, but I still think it would be difficult to call WWS overachievers on defense. They have had some exceptional defenses with very talented players, just not many with DI attributes.